Chasing Fireflies
by cdewilde
Summary: DoumekixWatanuki oneshot. Mild Legal Drug crossover. Yuuko wants Watanuki to catch invisible fireflies. Doumeki tries to help.


**PARALLEL UNIVERSES**

"Well?"

"Well, what."

"What did you bring?"

"Nothing, you fool."

"I'm hungry. Where's my lunch?"

"I was too busy last night to make _your_ lunch, you jerk."

Doumeki stared blankly at Watanuki. The slighter boy sighed. "Yuuko had me chasing invisible fireflies, cruel slave driver that she is. She didn't even tell me how to catch them, just gave me a waterbottle and told me to figure it out for myself."

"Did you?"

"What?"

"Catch them."

Watanuki shifted uncomfortably. "Of course not. They were _invisible_." He glared absently at his own storebought bento. "Yuuko said it was hitsuzen. Somebody else is supposed to catch them."

Doumeki watched Watanuki poke at his food for a minute without actually eating it. "You're…jealous." The other boy reared up in anger.

"Of course not, stupid! Just because I can't do it and somebody else can doesn't mean…" He seemed to be at a loss. "Never mind. Forget I even mentioned it." The bento was shoved into the archer's hands. "You eat it. I can't stand it."

Doumeki ate with far less enthusiasm than he did Watanuki's lunches. After several quiet minutes, he casually asked if he was going to try again tonight.

" I can't. It only during a full moon. It's completely ridiculous…"

­­­

Several weeks later, Watanuki was roused from a very pleasant dream by a very obnoxious someone knocking on his door. Cracking it open, he hissed, "What the hell are you doing? You're going to wake the whole building up! Go home and sleep like a normal person!"

"It's a full moon."

For a few seconds, he frowned slightly at Doumeki before catching on. Shortly after, the silent pair slipped out into the street towards the park.

­­­­­

Somebody was already there. They stood in the shadows of the trees and watched the slender boy running around and staring intently at something on the ground, before running around some more.

"He looks like some kind of psycho," Watanuki mumbled. Doumeki didn't say anything. He thought the boy was acting far less strange than Watanuki did when a hungry spirit was making him roll on the ground.

They watched as the fair figure flailed around for a moment, swinging wildly at the air before he stopped to breathe near the guardrail separating the path from the river and pulled out a bottle of water. He stared at it in contemplation before taking a swig. Then he…

"What the hell is he doing?" Watanuki peered through the darkness, trying to get a better look. "Is it…some kind of trance?"

And then whatever it was finished with a startled exclamation, leaving the figure to topple backwards into the depths of the river. Watanuki gasped. "He's going to drown!" Before Doumeki could grab him the idiot had hopped the rail nearest them. He caught a glimpse of another, larger figure following the other firefly-catcher before diving in after Watanuki.

The smaller boy hadn't gone very far before Doumeki caught him and started pulling him back towards the bank. "What are you doing? I have to help him! I was supposed to be the one…" The slightly desperate rant was left hanging as violent shivers wracked his frame in the bitter air. Watanuki had seen that his replacement was already being taken care of.

It was no longer necessary for them to stay. Doumeki walked with Watanuki back to his apartment, concerned that the boy would freeze to death in an alley without him, and for once there was no argument. Even when he followed him in, Watanuki remained stubbornly silent, though Doumeki could see his thin shoulders still trembling. "You're going to catch your death," he said flatly. Watanuki stood next to his bed (the apartment was very small, no matter how one thought of it) and slowly peeled his wet shirt off, exposing the pale expanse of his back to the moonlight coming through the window. Doumeki felt as though he were tainting something intrinsically pure just by watching. He turned away.

Watanuki changed promptly into a pair of pajamas and drifted naturally into the kitchen. "There's a robe in the bathroom. You can change out of those clothes." The statement was unusually weary. Doumeki gave him a strange look, but his eyes were determinedly avoiding looking anywhere near the archer.

When Doumeki emerged in a robe that was only a little short on him, Watanuki was there, handing him a cup of tea. They stood there for a moment while he felt the tea warming him right down to his toes. Watanuki moved eventually to stand at the window.

"I hope that person is okay…"

Doumeki understood, though he wasn't sure how or why. Watanuki blamed himself. Had he been able to capture the fireflies, then the other one wouldn't have been put in danger. He moved to stand next to the slender silhouette in the window.

"It was…hitsuzen."

Watanuki's eyes were hidden. "I should've tried harder to catch those fireflies. There must have been some trick to it…"

Quite suddenly Doumeki realized that this attitude annoyed him. Turning Watanuki roughly, he stared hard at his face.

"Stop blaming yourself when you aren't the one at fault."

For a moment Watanuki stared in bewilderment, before he fell apart without warning. Doumeki wondered if he even knew what he was doing when he threw his arms around his neck and buried his face in Doumeki's shoulder. He cautiously returned the embrace, listening to the gasped words.

"Everybody…they keep getting hurt…that boy, my parents, you…they keep getting hurt because of me…"

What else could he do? He tightened his hold on Watanuki as he sank down onto the futon, stroked his back, his hair. Somehow they ended up cuddled together on top of the heavy covers as the tears gradually slowed. At one point he attempted to stand, to separate himself from the temptation of a small shivering body, but Watanuki pulled him back with a whispered plea.

"Don't leave me alone…"

It was very late. Sleep managed to drag both boys into oblivion without a fight, as Watanuki curled deeper into Doumeki's arms without a thought.

They were roused by the harsh unforgiving demands of the alarm clock, which Doumeki promptly silenced, but too late—Watanuki was already stirring. Deep blue eyes opened to meet his own. There was no surprise, certainly no digust. For a very still moment, he merely stared back, until a sweet blush bloomed on Watanuki's cheeks and he looked away.

"I'm sorry…for last night…you really didn't _have_ to stay…"

It was too much. A sleepy, blushing, apologetic Watanuki was simply too much for any man, woman, or child to resist.

"Mmmph…"

The kiss was chaster at first than Doumeki had planned, but when he felt the other boy melt into him, it was worth it. Pliant lips parted at the briefest touch of his tongue, and he spent a few moments savoring the flavor of Watanuki before pulling back gently. Doumeki felt a smug swell of satisfaction at the glaze in those eyes. But Watanuki was so much more beautiful when he…

"Oi."

Watanuki blinked, his senses beginning to clear. "Huh?"

"You can make my dinners now, too."

The subsequent explosion was the most gorgeous thing Doumeki had ever had the pleasure of witnessing.


End file.
